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Absolute location versus relative?
If a layer has a parent, the “position” property shows the layer’s position relative to that parent.
But sometimes, for an expression, I want access to the layer’s absolute position. How can I get this in the expression?
Obviously, writing elaborate math to add the parent’s position to the child’s, with various functions to handle rotation and scaling isn’t a very nice solution.
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5 Replies
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In an expresion for that layer you would use:
toWorld(anchorPoint)
If you’re referring to the child layer from an expression in another layer you would do it like this:
L = thisComp.layer(“your child layer”);
L.toWorld(L.anchorPoint)Dan
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Dan, while we’re on the subject, could you say something about the difference between toWorld and toComp, especially for 3D layers? The information provided in the “Scripting Help” in AE does not really explain this. I think every time I tried it I ended up using toWorld, but I’m sure there’s a reason for having toComp there as well.
Thanks!
– Alon
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toComp() is relative to the coordinate system established by the Camera view. A good example of when you would use toComp() instead of toWorld() is this opacity expression that makes a layer invisible when facing away from the camera:
if (toCompVec([0, 0, 1])[2] > 0 ) value else 0
Dan
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Perfect. Thank you.
– Alon
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Ah, excellent.
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